Signal device for electric appliances



March 23, 1937. H. SMITH SIGNAL DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC APPLIANCES FiledJune 12, 1935 Ali... J

Patented Mar. 23, 1937* PATENT OFFICE SIGNAL nsvroa roa anaemicsrrnrsscns Howard Smith, St. Louis, Mo, assignor to xnsw- MonarchCompany, St. Louis, Mo a corporation of Missouri Application June 12,19ss,fsoii i-No.zs,zis

'1 Claim. (cl. 177-311) An object of my invention is to provide aninexpensive signal device for electric appliances, which is simple tomanufacture and assemble in the appliance, yet eflective to clearlyindicate whether or not the heating element of the. appliance isenergized, without, however, having to make any special circuitconnections for the. signal device.

More particularly, it is my object to provide in a toaster or otherelectrical appliance casing, 0 an indicator consisting of atransparentelement extending through a'wall of'the casing, a cylindrical part beingprovided within the casing, and the outer end. projecting beyond theface of the casing and being convex for the purpose of diflusing lightemitted by the heating element, thus causing the signal device to glowwhenever the" heating element is energized and to be observable anywherewithin an angle of 180 across the face of the appliance in which thesignal device is mounted.

An ther important object is to mount the signal evice in the plane inwhich the heating elemen of the appliance is arranged, so as to secure amaximum of light emission therefrom for the purpose of illuminating thesignal device to a practical extent, without having to provide aseparate fllamentfor the signal device.

With these and otherobjects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of mysignal device for electric appliances, whereby the objects contemplatedare attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in myclaim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section of an electricappliance, showing my signal device in side elevation associatedtherewith, the appli ance by way oriilustration being an electric 0bread toaster.

Figure 2. is a horizontal, sectional view on the line 2-2 .of Figure 1,illustrating the relation of the signal device to the heating element ofthe appliance.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the appliance, showing the signal devicemounted thereon; and Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of aportion of an appliance casing formed to receive 50 my signal device andthe signal device, together with a retainer therefor positioned forccaction with the appliance casing.

0n the accompanying drawing, I have used the reference numeral II toindicate a base. and

i I! a casing element mounted thereon. The appliance illustrated is abread toaster of the usual "construction, having hinged'doors I forforming in conjunction with the casing element l2, an enclosure for thebread 1118 toasted and a heating element It of the toaster, usuallylocated in a vertical plane between,two slices of bread. In at least oneend wall oi the casing l2,

- I provide a socket A, comprising a cylindrical side wall i8, and abottom flange 20, the flange being perforated as at 22. For coactionwith the socket, I provide a transparent element 3 and a retainerring C.i The element 8- may be made of glass or the like, and preferably hasja'cylindrical part 24 toproject into the appliance casing through aperforation 22. It viiits-a larger cylindrical portioncr flange it toseat against the flange 20,

and'a'convex outer end 2l.--

The' retainer 1- ring comprises a cylindrical flange ll, theouter end ofwhich terminates in a washer-like flanged; g-

in the assembly operation, the element B is inserted in the socket gilwith the flange 26 .3 againstsubsequent disengagement from ,the

appliance casing, the flange being confined between-the flanges and". v

The heating element liis arranged in a plane and the socket his arrangedsubstantially in said .plane. The purpose or this arrangement'is so thata maximum of emitted light from the heating element, as indicated bythelight'rays ain Figure l, strikes. the signal element B to secure..maximum illumination of the element. The inner end of the eleme nt Bbeing cylindrical aids inconcentratingj; the light received on the outersurfaced! 'the'felenient B, the convexity of which serves to difluse thelight as indicated by the light rays b to an extent which makes itpossible to clearly tell whether or not the heating element II isenergized, regardless of the angle at which the observer is stationedrelative to the plane of the end of the toaster casing. The ra-ys bspread through a hemispherical range, as indicated in Figures 1 and 2. It

The particular construction illustrated secures a maximum oi light forilluminating the signal received' inthesocgeh and the portion 24proelement II to illuminate the signal device.

Some changes may be made, in the constru tion and arrangement of thevarious parts of my signal device without departing from the real 7spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my 5 intention to cover bymy claim, any modified forms of structure, or use of mechanicalequivalents, which may be reasonably included within its scope.

' I claim as my invention: 10 In combination with an electric appliancehaving a sheet metal'casing and aheatingelement enclosed in said casing,a signal device comprising a transparent element having a head includinga convex'outer end and having a re- 15 duced diameter elongatedcylindrical inner end and means for mounting. said transparent elementin a sheet metal wall of said casing including a, retainer ring having aflange surrounding said headand a flange overlying the peripheral edge01' said convex outer end, said sheet metal wallhaving a depressedsocket-like portion 'alined with said heating element, the bottom ofsaid socket-like portion being perforated, said reduced diameter,elongated cylindrical inner end extending through the perforationthereof, the back of said head being seated against the bottom of saidsocket and the first flange of said retainer ring being frictionallyreceived in said socket-like portion to retain said head in suchpcmition. 1

' HOWARD SMITH.

